There are a handful of Japanese and Australian chefs, but only
one - Alex
Atala of D.O.M in Brazil - to represent all of South America.
Also glaringly absent are names from India, the entire African
continent, and China. There are only five women in the rankings -
one of whom, Elena Arzak, shares the honor with her father Juan
Mari. The other four women are Dominique
Crenn, Anne-Sophie Pic, Nadia Santini, and Carme
Ruscalleda.

Without taking anything away from the tremendous accomplishments
of the 100 chefs - many of whom have upended longstanding culinary
conventions and have contributed greatly to the field - it is
disappointing to see such entrenchment in this listing, and the
companion list of the world's best restaurants. Comments on several
social media posts about the rankings echo this
sentiment.

One reason the list is tilted in favor of European chefs is that
it is compiled from recommendations given by two- and three-starred
Michelin chefs, making it a very cozy club. Additionally, we don't
know which of those chefs are actually doing the nominating,
because Le Chef doesn't release the names of who it solicits for
the recommendations. Unless and until the nomination process is
changed, we can expect to see similar results in the
future.

1 Comment

Yes it is very skewed to European (male) chefs, but that’s what happens to subjective lists. I think these lists are a little silly (no disrespect to the chefs), but they are a reasonable suggestion-box of places to eat when travelling to an unfamiliar land. I tend to try one or two from a list but then go by local recommendations when I’m there. Oh, & China is on the list. The chef isn’t Chinese but he works in ‘Chine’, French for China.